Hurt
by diamondlilyflower
Summary: When Monroe's men comes for one of their own, how much will the others go through to get them back? Just how much are they willing to lose?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Charlie and Jason were on the last border patrol of the night before they settled down to rest at the rebel base, town, whatever they wanted to call it. There were three other rebels with them and it was a very quiet night. They saw nothing of interest amongst the trees. Before they went back to the town Charlie and Jason stopped whilst she bent over and tied her laces.

"You don't have to wait you know." She laughed.

"No, I want to." He said back.

"Why? I mean it's not as if we've seen anything scary? Or is it that you're scared of the dark?" She chuckled.

"I'm scared that you'll disappear into it."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you scared, for me?"

"God, Charlie isn't it obvious? My father tried to shoot you, so I threw you off the train so he couldn't torture you and then I gave Miles a warning, before that I helped Miles save you from the crazy man with the attack dogs at the fairground, I warned you that they were going to attack the rebel bases and then I joined the rebels! Charlie I didn't think I'd have to tell you!" He sighed.

She stood up and moved closer to him. "Jason, are you saying what I think you're saying?" She asked quietly.

"If you're half the intellectual I thought you were I think you know I am." He moved closer to her so that they were stood toe to toe. "Please don't shoot me and don't let Miles murder me."

"Why would I shoot-" He cut her off by brushing her lips with his. It took her a minute to get over the surprise, but she didn't move from where she was. She felt her lips meld with his without thinking, it felt natural, perfect. It was only a gentle kiss and they broke apart after a few seconds, their eyes meeting. "Jason?" She said quietly.

"What is it?" He replied.

"It took you long enough." She laughed as she pulled him in again. This second kiss was stronger, more passionate than the first. They broke apart when they could go without air no longer.

"I think we need to go back to town before they think we've been taken." He said.

"Moment killer." She laughed as she jabbed him in the chest with his elbow as they walked.

"Don't worry; I'm sure we'll have some more moments." He laughed.

"Oh, of course, but we may need to be careful around Miles, he might shoot first and ask questions later." She laughed, but both knew that the outlines of what she said were true. They walked back to the town closer than they'd stood before.

The next morning Miles and Nora got out of bed and headed down to the planning room. It was early so they worked slowly, spending more time touching each other than any form of plan.

"Miles?" Nora asked when they were actually looking down at a few maps.

"Mm?" He responded.

"Charlie and Jason. Don't tell me you haven't noticed." She chuckled.

"What about them?" He asked stupidly.

"He looks at her the way you look at me." She laughed.

"Oh yeah? What way would that be? He laughed.

"The way that means the chemistry is explosive." She whispered.

"Well, you are the explosives expert Nora. You explain it to me."

It was around an hour later that Charlie and Jason came in along with a few other rebels. "Today is a normal day. We've got no plans or raids to go on so everyone just rest." He said to them all. The rebels all left, but Charlie, Jason, Miles and Nora all stayed.

"How long has it been since we haven't had to pack up and leave to raid somewhere or rescue someone or stop a scientist from making anthrax?" Charlie asked, she had intended it as a joke, but nobody laughed.

"Charlie, would you mind going up and watching the warning bell for a few hours, I don't trust some of these untrained idiots." Miles asked.

She mutely nodded and headed out.

"Ni- Jason, will you come supervise fight training with me? You seem to be able to handle yourself in the fight."

Jason nodded, too shocked that Miles Matheson had complimented him on his fighting skills. There was then a knock at the door and one of the rebels came in. "Can I have a hand today? We've got a bit of supplies to ferry in." He said.

Nora immediately raised her hand. "I'll help you." She said as she followed him out of the room. After Nora had gone Jason and Miles left not much afterwards.

Charlie was in too much of a good mood to let her boring task of sitting with two other rebels on the roof of the town hall bring her down. She sat on the floor, feet hanging over the edge of the building, yet she was still safe, even though she knew that Miles probably wouldn't approve.

The other two rebels were sitting at the other side of the roof, both chatting idly with each other, but Charlie didn't know either of them particularly well, so she sat alone and she was happy about it.

It wasn't long before she found herself getting fidgety. She spotted Miles waving at her from below and he shouted something up, that he had to repeat three times before she caught onto what he was saying. She took her bow and quiver off of her shoulder and then, lined it up with where he'd set up a heap to catch it and let it fall. It was a long fall for her beloved bow, but it landed perfectly and Miles picked it up and it seemed in perfect working order.

She watched as he, Jason and Tom all took charge of a group of about sixty rebels to help them fight. They were having more fun than she was, but she knew why Miles had put her up here. He knew that there was a high threat of Monroe finding and attacking them and he also knew that the sentries that were always posted up here didn't take the job very seriously because the scouts always spotted soldiers first, but Miles must have known that she understood the precarious situation they were in.

After a few hours she started to get warm and was contemplating taking her break, but she knew that she had to wait until the other two came back. They had disappeared back into the building what felt like forever ago and she hadn't seen heads or tails of them since. She was having to seriously consider leaving the bell unmanned for just a little while whilst she grabbed a bite to eat from inside or visited Jason down on the training area, but then she spotted the helicopter on the horizon.

At first she thought she was hallucinating, but then she heard the distant rumble from more than one helicopter and she saw one of the small outbuildings that was only about a mile away from the town burst into flames, the helicopters were carrying bombs and they were coming directly to them.

She scrambled to her feet, nearly tripping over the edge of the building, but she managed to keep steady on her feet and run to the large, church-like bell and she rang it. She could practically hear the silence that followed. All conversations were abandoned as everyone froze, nobody really knowing what was going on, so she kept ringing the bell, until she was hit with the realization that she was standing on the roof of the target building.

Upon hearing the bell, Miles instantly stopped the training; he knew that there was no way that Charlie would ring the bell as a joke. He glanced up, but couldn't see her, but he did manage to spot the copter flying in their direction, dropping bombs everywhere.

"Everybody move!" He ordered. "Jason, get them out of here!" Jason looked like he was going to argue, so Miles just glared and that caused Jason to sigh and lead the confused soldiers away from where they were. Only Tom and Miles remained where they were.

"Tom, how do they know we're here?" Miles snapped.

"Well, it seems we have got a bit of trouble on our hands." Tom replied as he slung his gun over his shoulder. The two men looked up and saw that the copter was nearly directly above them. Miles was about to run into the building and all around the town to find Nora and Charlie, but Tom grabbed his arm. "I'm not going back to Georgia and telling Foster that her best fighter got blown up because I let him run back into the danger zone." He snapped at him. "Now move!"

Neither had any time to debate, they ran and then the building behind them, the main building in the town, was reduced to flying bricks and burning furnishings. Tom and Miles were blown off of their feet and both men crashed onto the hard ground with a thud, keeping their heads low to the ground as rubble descended around them.

After a few minutes they stood up and wiped away some of the dust that had got stuck on their clothes. More explosions shook the town, but none of them as close as that one, so they didn't feel it as much. It only went quiet when nearly every main building in the town was on fire, or not where it used to be at all.

Miles glanced round the area they were standing in. They were surrounded by a lot of big chunks of rubble and then he spotted an all too familiar dark head of hair. He ran over there, worry in the pit of his stomach that she was dead. When he moved round so he could see her face he was relieved that she was awake and just trapped.

Without pausing for a second he moved the rubble off of her, freeing up her legs. "Nora, are you alright?" He asked desperately.

"I'm fine, Miles." She whispered as he crouched down beside her. He helped her sit up and then moved her hair gently out off of her face so he could check a bleeding wound for her. "Nora, were you with Charlie?" Nora looked at him blankly, obviously having no idea what he was talking about.

"She was ringing the bell…" Nora said slowly as she turned her head and looked at where the building used to be. The huge building that had once stood at least fifty foot high was now reduced to a twenty foot tall pile of rubble.

Miles felt all the colour drain from his face and he swore.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Charlie felt dizzy. She woke up from being unconscious, barely able to breath and completely trapped. Her whole body was pinned to the ground by various chunks of rubble and she could barely see anything because of the inherent absence of light. "Jason!" She had intended to shout, but it came out nothing more than a hoarse croak, the amount of dust in the air already had made her unable to speak.

A single tear ran down her cheek, but she ignored it. She tried to shift the rubble off of her, she did successfully manage to get one hand and arm free, but that was it. She just had to hope that they found her before it was too late.

Miles and Tom were moving as much rubble as they could, with Nora helping them a little, she was still in pain from being crushed so couldn't do much and it was a painfully slow process, everything they moved had to be carefully selected so that it didn't cause the whole structure to rain down on them and on Charlie.

"Move! Miles! Nora!" They all turned in the direction of Jason's voice and saw him crouched behind one of the only walls that had managed to remain standing and then they understood why, there was what could easily have been a whole unit of the militia hefting rubble away on the other side of them.

The three of them ran over to Jason so that they could make a plan. "How do we get Charlie out of there?" Nora asked.

"I need to know if she's alright. Nora, make sure Jason doesn't cause any trouble for us." Miles said as he turned round and ran back to the rubble. "Charlie!" He yelled. It was a miracle the militia didn't hear him, but at that stage he didn't care anyway. He couldn't lose his niece now, not after all they'd accomplished. They'd faced so much together, he wasn't going to let her leave now.

He heard a faint response, he could just about make out his name, but it was almost inaudible, she was weak and couldn't move, that much he could guess, she was so good at getting herself into trouble that if she could move she'd be making herself an escape root and probably get caught by the militia on the other side of the heap.

"Charlie! Can you move?"

This time her response was louder. "No, I'm trapped. Miles! Militia are looking for me."

"What do you mean they're looking for you?" He called back.

"I heard my name and I know its militia! Miles, they're getting closer!" She was panicking.

"Jason! Get over here! You as well Tom!" He called to them. "Nora! Stay out of sight; I can't have you in trouble too!"

Both the Neville's came over quickly and started to help him shift rubble. "Jason, stop and just keep her talking." Miles ordered gruffly.

Jason nodded and moved backwards so that the other two could keep making a tunnel for them. "Charlie! Charlie I'm here." He yelled to her.

"Jason! Jason, the militia! They're nearly here, I can see them!"

"Charlie, don't panic. Keep talking to me and don't think about the militia, we're coming for you."

"Thanks Jason. I just wish I hadn't gotten out of bed this morning, Jason I-"She abruptly stopped. "GET OFF OF ME!" He could hear her screaming and it was breaking his heart.

"Miles! They've got to her!" He cried.

Nora peered round the wall and saw that she could see the militia better than Jason, Tom and Miles. Every feeling she had was telling her that she had to stand up and she had to help Charlie, but she was too weak. All she could do was watch, as a very weak Charlie was pulled from the rubble, covered in dust and areas of dried blood. She was trying to fight them and escape, but she could barely get her feet steady on the ground and Nora could tell that her breathing was uneven.

"Miles! Stop digging, she's out!" Nora shouted over to them. The group moved away too quickly and, although they weren't recognized they were shot at with about ten bullets, all of them missed except one that clipped Tom's shoulder. Jason helped his injured father to behind the wall with Nora and then Nora helped him bind up the wound that wasn't very serious.

Miles was behind the wall, but he hadn't taken his eyes off of his niece yet. She was almost out of view and the militia, idiots as they were, was on high alert. He watched as her attempts at fighting were mercilessly defeated and every muscle in his body was ready for a sprint over to her, but even he knew that was just like suicide.

When he eventually did turn, he saw that Nora was on her feet; only leaning slightly on Jason and Tom was standing too. "I'll cover for you with Foster. Get the kid back." Was all Tom said before he half ran-half staggered in the direction of the other surviving rebels.

Nora, Jason and Miles then ran out from under their cover, intent on finding the cart and the militia and following them until they saw an opportunity to attack and rescue her before she was taken to Philly, but then they all heard the roar of a helicopter engine and they couldn't see Charlie anywhere.

The three looked up and could all recognize that head of brown hair in the back of it. Miles swore and kicked a brick, almost breaking his foot. It was then that Nora noticed something. She walked round to where the militia had dug through and pulled Charlie out and saw the bit of paper pinned down by a brick.

She lifted it and looked at what it said before she called Miles over. A few tears ran down her face as she passed the note over for Miles to look at.

_General Matheson, by now you know that the militia have attacked you and taken your precious niece. It's simple really; she is the perfect chip in our little game. Rachel will come for her, you'll come for her and the strongest rebels in the area will come for her. I think she may want you to hurry up, or at least she will do, but us, no we'd rather you took a leisurely stroll over here, you see we have her lined up for Strausser's predecessor. I wonder how long it will take her to break, how much pain she can take before she tells me all your plans that I know she knows. She seems like the type of girl who could take a lot. Face it Miles, you won't see her again._

_M._

Miles swore again. "Who's Strausser's predecessor, Jason?" He barked.

"He had an understudy, trained in all his ways I think, pretty sick dude, why?"

"What are we going to do Miles? What's your plan?"

"Give me a minute. I'll tell you two later. For now we need to help the rebels." Miles responded monotone.

Nora and Jason exchanged confused looks, but they followed him anyway. The trio stood with Tom, assessing the main damage. They split into four groups. Miles and a group started to shift the rubble, working hand in hand with Nora and her group who were helping rescue survivors. Jason led his group out of the town entirely to do a perimeter search to check that there were no remaining militia in the area and Tom and the final group checked supply stocks and helped bandage up injuries.

It was a hard few hours, the sheer amount of rebels that were killed in the blast and most of them hadn't died easily. Miles and Nora spent at least four hours shifting rubble and rescuing both the living, who could be helped and the dead, so that they could be buried properly.

Dark seemed to come very quickly and when the sun went down Miles, Nora and Jason set up a small fire that they nestled around, none of them wanted to sit with the main group of survivors that had set up a bigger fire a little way away from them.

Miles sat with his arm round Nora, as she rested her head against his chest, exhausted from the blast and from being busy helping people for the rest of the day, with Jason sat opposite them. Miles felt bad for him really. He'd stopped calling him Nipples because of how much he had done for them and he had started trying to be civil with him because of how well he treated Charlie and how much it was obvious he could maybe even love her.

He felt Nora start to drift off into sleep, so he gently tapped her shoulder. She looked up at him in the firelight and he placed a kiss on her forehead. "Do you have a plan Miles?" She asked brightly, Miles couldn't help but smirk when she looked at him expectantly and he even saw that Jason had sat up as well, from where he was moping.

"Do I ever not have a plan?" he asked sarcastically.

"All the time there was-"Nora started,

"Anyway." Miles interrupted. "The plan is simple. We walk to Philly, we kill Monroe, we rescue Charlie and at that stage if Aaron or Rachel wants to make an appearance with power then they can be welcome to."

Nora chuckled.

"We leave in the morning, so rest up Lover boy. We're getting her back."

"So, that sounds like a good plan, better than some of the others you've come up with before, who are we actually planning on taking to Philadelphia? The three of us surely can't do it alone." Jason chimed in.

"Charlie, Maggie and Aaron managed to walk to Chicago, Charlie and I managed to spring Nora out of copter-pulling, Charlie, Nora and I managed to find Maggie and Aaron, Charlie, Nora, Aaron and I managed to get to Philly and everything went a little pear shaped from there, but if Aaron and Rachel can make it to the tower then the three of us can walk to Philly and rescue Charlie." Miles snapped.

Jason raised his hands in mock defeat. "It can't be that simple though. It's not just a case of walk to Philly, kill Monroe and rescue Charlie before stopping for a drink of alcohol, how are we going to get into somewhere they know we'll be coming? How are we going to find out where she actually is?"

"That's the fun part Lover boy. Before the power went out script writers would leave the script blank for actors to adlib sections how they thought fit the moment, that's what we're doing as well, having no plan, is part of our plan. We'll get her back, no need to worry." Miles knew that in the back of his mind what he was saying could have been a lie, but other than keeping Lover boy and Nora looking up, he had to convince himself that by the time they got there she would be fine. "Get some rest. We leave at dawn, for Philly."


	3. Chapter 3

Charlie wasn't very aware of what was happening around her. Her head was swirling. One minute she was in a helicopter, the next she was being thrown into a chair and she was handcuffed to it. It could have been days, hours or minutes that she was left there, but when she heard a door open behind her, she found that her senses were slowly coming back to normal. The room she was in was large and very clean. There was a map on the desk in front of her and a very comfortable chair on the other side of it.

It was then that she took in a sharp breath of shock when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. The person moved round so that he was almost sat on the desk, she recognized the face instantly, it was Sebastian Monroe. His eyes lit up when she recognized him.

"Hello Charlie. You look like you've just been blown up." He said to her.

"Really? I didn't notice being blown up at all, since your militia goons blew me up." She said sarcastically.

"You know, you're even worse than your brother. He thought he was clever too. He thought you were coming, he thought he was going to make it home alive, but you don't have a home anymore do you? No, you lost that and you lost your brother and now look where you are. I think Danny might be better off where he-"

"SHUT UP! Stop talking about Danny! You killed him!" She screamed.

Monroe backhanded her across the face. "You are going to be here for a while Charlie. You better get used to this, there's no way that you can escape and there's no way that Miles is going to succeed in rescuing you, so you better get used to it. Let's get this straight. You disrespect me and you see the new and improved Strausser, you don't answer my questions and you go see the new and improved Strausser and if you turn down my hospitality you'll see-"

"The new and improved Strausser." She interrupted dryly.

"And that's where you're going now!" Monroe shouted.

It was only then that Charlie felt her confidence drain out through her feet.

Miles woke up at dawn, to find his arm still curled round Nora and the burning embers of last night's fire still in between the two of them and Jason. He didn't look like he had had a very peaceful sleep, Jason looked like he'd only fallen asleep minutes ago and Miles felt a little bit guilty having himself having an almost dreamless sleep.

He'd be lying if he said he's slept easily though, he had for most of the night, but every so often, he thought he heard Charlie screaming and he'd wake up with a cold sweat and gasping for his breath. But there was no way in hell that he was going to show Lover boy, Jason, that he wasn't as strong as he made himself out to be.

Snaking his arm out from under Nora he intended to let her sleep for a little while longer, but as he moved his arm her eyelids fluttered open so he changed his mind and instead placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, but she pulled strongly on his shirt so that their lips were together in a passionate kiss.

"Good morning to you two." He laughed.

"Needed to start the day with something good. How long do you think it'll take to walk to Philly?" She asked.

"Nine days, if we're fast. We can't get sidetracked, not when we know what's at stake, we didn't know what to expect the first time, when we tried to help Danny, everywhere we went we got sidetracked. Rescuing you took us long enough." He laughed.

"Sorry I was such a burden for you." Nora laughed.

"It wasn't me really, not much. Charlie did all the hard work." He shrugged. "I think having her instead of him," He tilted his head in Jason's direction "Would make everything so much easier."

"That's the point though. That's how Monroe knew to get her and not me or anyone else. He knew that she was the one that convinced you to help her rescue her brother, that it was her who pulled you out of the gutter and got you on this road again."

"We need to get her back Nora. I'm not sure what I'd do without her, but I can't lose you and I can't imagine Charlie would be very happy if we lost him." He tilted his head in Jason's direction, only to spot him stirring awake.

"What was that about Charlie?" He asked drowsily.

"Nothing Jason, just get ready and then we'll get going." Nora told him gently as all three of them stood up and gathered some things.

The three of them ended up leaving not much later. The walk was eerily quiet, none of them could find anything to talk about, it was usually Charlie that could fill the silences with her mindless chatter about her brother, or about bringing down Monroe or something like that and that would prompt a conversation, but she wasn't there.

They walked quite a lot further than they probably should, by the time the three of them found a suitable place to make a little camp where they could rest they were all shattered and barely able to breath because they'd walked so far.

None of them spoke at all and they found it very easy to fall asleep.

The next day, it was cool, but still not cold enough to consider layering up with even a thin jacket. But after just a few minutes walking, Nora snapped, unable to handle more of the painful silence. "Miles, memory of Charlie, go!" She ordered.

He took a moment to think and gave her a puzzled look, but didn't ask any questions. "When four people came through the door to my bar, I thought, oh look, it's a fat guy, two militia magnets and a blonde. Maggie asked me if I knew Miles Matheson and then Charlie said to let him know that his brother was dead and that she was my niece, so then I nearly stabbed Lover boy and talked to her. God she annoyed me, but she managed to convince me to come along, so I guess she can be pretty persuasive I guess." He laughed.

Nora and Jason both laughed before Nora launched into a story herself. "When we'd all met up again. All six of us, the three of us, Charlie, Aaron and Maggie. When we all ran away from the attack dogs and into the diner and Maggie wasn't there and then when Miles carried Maggie in, the look of panic on her face was one I hadn't seen before, not even when we were cornered in our first rebel base. Miles and I left to find the sick crazy attack dog wielding person and when we come back, Aaron's in a tizzy. Trying to start operating on Maggie and Charlie had just been taken and he couldn't do anything, so then you two ran off to find her while I stayed to help Maggie, then when you come back Charlie comes straight in and over to Maggie, pretending that nothing's happened just because Maggie needed her."

Miles and Nora then turned to Jason expectantly. He cleared his throat and then he started to tell. "When Charlie and Nora and I, we rebelled on the steam boat a few weeks ago and she locked you-"He gestured to Miles "In the cupboard whilst I locked dad in a room unconscious and then we took over the boat and then when my dad woke up and caught us and I was on the other boat and he pointed a gun at her head, saying that she was the most annoying person that he'd ever met, she had that sparkle in her eye. The one she gets when she's fighting for what she believes in and she's willing to do anything and then Miles, saved her, like I couldn't, just by punching my dad in the face and then we got shot at by militia. I ran onto the adjoining boat with all of you and then she ran out into the gunfire and untied the boat so we could escape and I was worried she was going to get hit and-"He abruptly stopped and it was obvious he wasn't going to carry on.

Miles took his turn again. "I thought I was going to lose her in the tunnels we went in to take to Philly. She, of all people, stood on a mine. Nora thought she'd disabled it, but told the rest of us to leave anyway. All the rebels and the militia man who we thought was a rebel, all walked away and out of the blast zone, but Aaron and I both refused to go. I thought she was going to throw a fit, but Nora told her to shut up or she might just blow us all up. We all ran and the bomb went off, but we were all fine and I thought the crisis was averted, but then everyone started to hallucinate and I thought we were all going to die and then when we found the door… knew we had oxygen again and that we wouldn't suffocate and then I get a gun on my back and then when Charlie rescues me she got a bullet graze on her head and she cracked her head on a step. I thought she was in a coma or dying and then she woke up. Shows how much of a fighter she is."

It went on like that for the rest of the day before they found another place to camp and they settled down to rest.

Jason found himself almost instantly locked in a dream. He was back in town, laid in his bed, with Charlie's head rested on his bare chest. She was looking up at him, her blue sparkling eyes, locked with his as he used one of his hands to cup her face. She shuffled up in his other arm and their lips locked in a ferocious battle, to Jason it felt as if she was right there beside him and then all at once, she wasn't and neither was he. He found himself standing in his militia uniform that he hadn't worn in so long, he was standing in the back of a dark room, watching Strausser lean over Charlie, with a bloodied knife in his hand and she was screaming. He felt tears running down his face as she screamed in burning agony even though he knew that there was no way it was actually happening because Strausser was dead.

Nora woke when she heard breathing change. Ever since she'd had to keep Mia and herself alive since she was thirteen. She'd trained herself to wake up when Mia was having a nightmare or if they were being attacked. She woke up and sat up quickly without waking Miles.

She could see the tears streaming out of Jason's closed eyes and she knew she'd have to wake him. She moved over to Jason and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. All it took was a very gentle tap and his eyes flew open and he sat up bolt right straight. "Jason. Jason, calm down. Everything's fine." She told him.

Jason then turned and seemed like he first noticed Nora, she could see the embarrassment sink into his eyes. "Did I wake you?" He asked quietly.

"No, don't you worry. I'm a light sleeper. What were you having a nightmare about? Was it about Charlie?"

He nodded and sniffed, obviously trying to hide his tears that must have embarrassed him so much.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

He nodded again. "She was in my arms. We were happy, it was perfect and then the next moment she was gone. I was in the corner of a dark, dingy room. It was like I was a ghost, she couldn't see me and Strausser was standing over her and he had a bloody knife. She was screaming for you and Miles and… she was screaming for me, but I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help her; all I could do was watch. I watched as he…" Jason trailed off and made no move to restart talking.

"It'll be fine, Jason, she'll be fine. She's a strong girl, the strongest I've ever known and she's related to Miles. She'll be fine. All we need to do is find her." Nora comforted as she patted him on the back. She glanced over to where Miles was and saw that he was awake and the look in his eyes told her that all three of them were thinking the same thing.

_We need to rescue Charlie before the dream can happen._


	4. Chapter 4

The little group of three ran into trouble two days later. There was a little sense of déjà vu as they approached the bridge that would give them a straight shot to Philly, only this time it wasn't to Danny. It was to Charlie. The bridge was swarmed with militia waiting for them, but they didn't notice that until it was too late.

They got to half way across the bridge when Nora spotted the guns, but she stopped too abruptly and the militia spewed out of their hiding places. All three of them turned on their heels as fast as they could and ran back across the bridge, but Miles and Jason were faster than Nora.

Miles and Jason got off the bridge, but then Nora was cut off, she was trapped on the bridge. She met Miles's eyes and even though he managed to take down some of them there was no way she'd be able to get through, so with one final look at Miles she turned to the side and leapt off of the bridge and soared through the air until she crashed into the river water.

The current was icy cold and once she broke the surface she'd drifted quite a way down and it took her quite a while to actually wade over to the side. When she pulled herself out of the water and sat on the bank leaning against a tree to catch her breath, she could see Miles and Jason and the pair of them were waving at her, it looked like they were telling her to move.

She stood up and turned to head into the woods she was stopped in her tracks by a large group of militia. Whipping round she ran back towards the bank and she could see Miles and Jason again, but this time they were concealed, she only knew where they were because they'd taken her advice. She had nowhere to go and the militia restrained her immediately, but they didn't kill her like she expected.

They hit her on the head with what could have been the butt of a gun and then she was completely out.

Waking up was painful. Her head was pounding and she just didn't want to open her eyes. When she did eventually open her eyes, she found herself in a dark room, chained by her wrists to a wall. In the middle of the room, at least ten meters away from her there was what appeared to be a dining room chairs, four of them. Two on one side and two on the other.

She then looked to her left and she saw that just in her reach was Charlie. She was unconscious and in the dark of the room she couldn't make out any of her injuries, she just knew it was definitely her. "Charlie?" Nora croaked.

"Nora?" Charlie responded weakly. "Nora!"

"Charlie! Are you alright?"

No response.

Nora opened her mouth to repeat the question, but then the small light bulb flickered on, it wasn't a very bright light, but she still found herself looking at it with wonder and awe for a moment before the door creaked open. She instantly recognized who it was and internally groaned, in strolled Monroe and another man, who was a tad taller, but had that same creepy glint in his eye that Strausser had had.

"Hello miss Clayton." Monroe said, almost politely, if Nora had not known what his intentions were. "Dixon? Do you want to help our ladies sit down on the chairs?" He said as he himself sat on one of the wooden dining table type chairs. The other man 'Dixon' went to Charlie first and unlocked her chains.

He pulled Charlie to her feet and started to walk her over to the chairs, it made Nora grimace, she couldn't get her feet flat on the ground and she was groaning in pain every time she moved. When she was dragged into the light of the bulb Nora grimaced again, Charlie looked freezing, the room they were in was cool and even Nora was shuddering slightly from cold and she still had her jacket and full length skinny jeans on, but Charlie, she was in her usual tank top, but no jacket and her pants had been cut to short length so that the entirety of her legs were showing, almost every bit of her skin that Nora could see was in varying degrees of bruised, healing, red, bleeding and many other shades of skin that weren't normal. Her face wasn't as bad though, but there was a long thin scratch that wasn't bleeding anymore that stretched from her temple to the middle of her forehead.

Once Dixon had Charlie sat down he moved over to Nora. Charlie watched Nora's face, embarrassed that Nora had to see her in such an incapable state. If it came to anything she knew that Nora would be fighting alone, Charlie couldn't even solidly grip something yet, without her hand shuddering and shaking and most commonly she ended up with a shattered object. Monroe had tested her on it.

Dixon forced Nora into the chair opposite Charlie and beside Monroe. Dixon himself sat down beside Charlie, deliberately shuffling the chair closer to hers to make her feel uncomfortable. Monroe obviously noticed it, but did nothing. Instead he clearly ignored it. "Miss Clayton, I have no doubt that you are very close to Miles, maybe not as much as young Charlie here though. I don't take you for a fool Nora, you have eyes, we've tried to get information from Charlie, but she has yet to give us anything, could you maybe give us a helping hand Nora?" He asked her.

"Well I can tell you what he's got planned for you. I'm sure that wouldn't harm him. I'm sure he wouldn't mind me telling you that he's sending you off to hell." She responded bitterly, Monroe did nothing, but he turned his head in the direction of Dixon, who backhanded Charlie across the face. Nora cringed.

"So, Nora, do you want to tell us anything now?"

It was hours later when the pair of them finally left, leaving both Nora and Charlie a bit worse for wear. Neither of them were shackled back up, but all four chairs were removed when they left. It was about a minute after they'd been left alone Charlie called out to Nora, who was already fighting pulled herself to her feet and hurried over Charlie.

When Nora sat down beside her Charlie collapsed back into her arms, resting her head against her chest. "How did they catch you?" She asked her quietly.

"I leapt into a river and they followed me instead of Miles." Nora chuckled grimly.

"Did you, was the town alright? Was everybody alright? Did everyone get out on time?"

"Quite a few rebels didn't make it and even more were injured, tom was shot in the shoulder, but other than that as far as I know a lot made it out alive." Nora told her as she gently rubbed her back with her hand. "How are you Charlie?"

"Just perfect." She muttered sarcastically, Nora glared at her. "Fine, fine. I'm in bad shape Nora. A lot of wounds, a lot of pain and so on. Nora, if I ask you a question will you answer, honestly?"

Nora nodded, "Charlie, I'm not exactly in a position to lie to you am I?"

"Nora, did they blow up the rebel camp to get to us? To get to me? I know I was a target and the rebels weren't and-"

"Charlie! Hush! They were not coming for only you. They wanted one of us and they wanted to kill as many rebels as they could." Nora comforted. "Jason's been having nightmares about you. He blames himself for what happened, not being able to get to you before the militia."

"There was nothing more he could have done. I just hope that Miles will get us out of here and I can tell him that myself."

Jason and Miles got into Philly with surprising ease. They also very easily found a hideout. They went straight to a militia captains house, who had been on Miles's side when he was first going to take down Monroe and he was also friends with Jason, so he let them straight through the door and let them rest the night before they carried on.

"So, do you have any idea where they could be keeping Nora or Charlie?" Jason asked the captain.

"I've heard that they're being kept in the cell, four floors beneath Monroe's office." The captain shrugged.

"How are we going to get in then?"

"Jason if you'd been with us on our first journey into Philly, you'd know that that was the easy part."

An hour later the two walked out of the house, dressed in full militia guise, with their hair tucked into a pair of caps that were the same material as the uniforms and both wore a pair of matching dark sunglasses. Miles even stuck a pair of lifts into his boots so that nobody could pick him out from his height.

It was terrifyingly simple. All the pair had to do was walk up the main street and then Jason took the lead. He led Miles to a back alley that backed onto the house, where there they stopped suddenly.

"Jason? What's this?" Miles asked.

"Not long after you left my father came home and led me out here. Told me that Monroe had installed a panic tunnel. He had this idea that the militia were going to rise up against him to he installed a mostly unheard of escape route. I think it should lead to the extreme containment cell where Nora and Charlie should be. It seems too simple really, would Monroe really keep them in there?"

"There's only one way to find out. You did good Jason."

Jason smiled at the compliment, but then he moved to the wall and in about a minute he managed to shift away a six by three rectangle of bricks on the lower portion of the wall revealing a darkened tunnel. He moved to go first.

"No you don't." Miles said as he shoved Jason lightly to the side and climbed into the tunnel first.


	5. Chapter 5

Nora was alone in the room. She'd fallen asleep with Charlie nestled in her arms and then woke up when soldiers ripped her from her arms and dragged Charlie out of the room, claiming Monroe ordered a personal audience with her that particular time. Nora was very worried, there hadn't been a peep from anyone for what felt like hours.

Her nerves were on edge, any sound she heard, she feared it was militia coming back to take her away and kill her like they might have done to Charlie already, but then she also hoped that with every sound it was Charlie being returned to her.

She hurt from a few of her bruises and she still felt tired even after a sleep. There was a light scuffling in the opposite wall to her, but she felt like she was hallucinating. The cold she felt only made her miss being locked in Miles's tight embrace. She imagined what it felt like to have his arms wrapped round her, to have him brush her lips with his, the electricity she felt whenever he touched her skin. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to imagine his face right there beside her.

Adjusting the angle she was laying at, she turned her face so that the bruised side of it was facing outwards and didn't have any pressure on it from the wall. She could hear, what could have been a few bricks dropping from the wall opposite her where she'd heard the scuffling, but she didn't open her eyes to see what it was.

Miles pulled himself out of the tunnel and cursed. Nora was a few meters from him at the other side of the room, with one wrist chained to the wall and a very big bruise on one side of her face. Ignoring all inhibitions about the room being alarmed, he launched across the room and wrapped her tightly in his arms. Her eyes fluttered open and Miles smiled.

"Morning." He whispered to her.

"Miles!" She gasped. "Miles, you came." She smiled and the pair kissed with unbelievable passion, only breaking apart when Jason uncomfortably cleared his throat. "Sorry." Nora apologized.

"Where's Charlie?" Jason asked her.

"She was here, I fell asleep with her in my arms and then they took her away and I haven't seen her since. She was in pretty bad shape and Monroe, he-"

"Nora, you can tell us all that happened later. Right now, getting both of you out of here is the priority. Jason, get Nora out of here. I don't care how. I've got a fish to catch." Miles ordered. This time Jason didn't even try to fight for his cause, obviously he'd learnt that after so many times of trying to win their arguments and never, not even once, getting Miles to waver on his decision.

Miles helped Nora up to her feet after he broke the chain off her wrist. Jason then came back over to them and Nora put her arm round his neck, letting him take all her weight as he helped her over to the tunnel. Miles went over to the big door and opened it. "Miles!" Nora hissed. He glanced over his shoulder back at the two of them. "Bring her back."

He nodded before he slipped out of the door and closed it soundlessly after him. The hallways were eerily empty as he made his way up the stairs until he came to the massive doors outside Monroe's office. Getting his gun at the ready, he shoved them open.

Straight in front of him he was faced with nothing. Complete emptiness, there was the collection of furniture that had been in that room, in the exact same places, for as many years as Miles could remember, but there were no people, no Monroe, no Charlie. He groaned and ran over to the desk. He sifted through the heaps of what appeared to be unsent letters, until he found the one on the bottom.

_Power waits for no man. Maybe I'll run into Rachel, I'm sure she'd love to see her daughter again, before I kill both of them, you better run or you may not get to say your goodbyes. Look at the monitor before you leave._

_M._

Miles cursed under his breath, before he turned round until he spotted a small computer monitor in the corner of the room, with a DVD player beneath it. He marched over to it and pressed the on button, it came on and for only a slight moment he let himself be enthralled in how different it was, but then he saw what appeared on the screen.

"Charlie?"

"Miles!" She screeched. Miles couldn't help but smile; it definitely wasn't a pre-recorded video like he'd expected it to be.

"Charlie, kid, you alright? Has he hurt you?" He asked even though he already knew the answer.

She shrugged and subconsciously, or purposely, Miles couldn't tell which, moved her hair off of her face, so that he could see her whole face and he swallowed his animosity. Her face was beat to hell and Miles knew that her face would no way be the worst of it.

"Charlie, you're going to be fine. Do you hear me? I'm going to come get you. I'm coming for you."

"Don't, don't come. Miles he'll kill you if you come for me-" It was then that he saw a hand fly across the camera and hit her face and she grunted, but then the camera angle changed and he found himself looking directly at the shell of his best friend. "You better not hurt her! I will kill you and I don't care how many of your militia goons I have to kill to do it."

"But will you, Miles? Will you be able to pull the trigger this time? Will you be able to make sure little Charlie here doesn't take a bullet for your cause?"

Miles opened his mouth to snap back at him, but the camera turned off and Miles was alone for a moment before he heard at least a dozen footsteps running across the halls in his direction so he ran over to the window and leapt out of it, landing with a thud on the grass, a little tear stuck in his eye, that he refused to let out. He would not cry because of Sebastian Monroe.

When he got back to the captains house, he went through the door quietly and went into the main room where Nora and Jason were waiting for him and neither looked very pleased when he came in alone. "Where is she? Where's Charlie?" Nora asked him quietly as she pushed herself off of the chair and onto her feet.

"Monroe, he took her. He's taking her to the tower where Rachel and Aaron are. He's taking her there, then he's going to wait for us and kill her or at least he's going to try to kill her."

Tears ran down Nora's cheeks as she strode the few steps over to Miles and buried her head in his chest. He wrapped his arms round her and held her close to him. Over her shoulder he could see Jason, still sat on the sofa, wiping his eyes to get rid of the tears and Miles felt guilty, he'd managed to rescue the woman he loved and Charlie was still a captive after all this time.

"She was in my arms. I had her in my arms and I fell asleep. I fell asleep and let them take her." Nora murmured.

"They were going to take her anyway. Even if you were awake they would have taken her anyway. Don't blame yourself, we're going to get her back anyway."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Do we know the same Charlie? She won't give them an easy job, will she? Jason," Miles turned to Jason. "In all the time you've known Charlie has she ever let anyone keep her prisoner for long?"

Jason shook his head. "She cuffed me to a post not long after we met and she managed to escape that power plant when Monroe had her and Danny there."

They all laughed weakly.

"She'll be standing outside the tower tapping her foot." Miles laughed.

"Or at least we better hope she is." Nora confirmed.

"So how long a walk have we got to the tower?" Jason asked.

"A long one, that's all I can say." Miles told him.

"Are we going to set off then?"

"Nora, you think you can manage a good days walk? You could barely walk out of that-"

"I'm fine, but if you don't walk out of this house now you won't be." Nora snapped playfully.

"I guess we're leaving then."


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel and Aaron were within touching distance of the tower, they had only just arrived, but it appeared as though Monroe and his men had arrived the day before. Aaron had the binoculars so that he could watch their movements whilst Rachel got some much needed rest.

He moved his glasses up onto the top of his head as he looked through the binoculars. The first person he saw was Monroe. He was in a tent and it seemed as though he was talking to someone. He shifted the angle of his binoculars to see who it was and he was pretty sure his heart stopped.

Sitting less than a meter from Monroe was Charlie. He moved the binoculars away from his eyes and then he rubbed his eyes and then he looked back down the binoculars and he knew he wasn't hallucinating, Charlie was still there.

He needed to tell Rachel, but he couldn't find the words to do it and he couldn't resist just letting her sleep, he would keep watching Charlie and if the situation got any worse he would wake her. He didn't have to wait too long before she woke up.

"Aaron? Anything happen down there?" She asked drowsily.

"You know your plan to walk down there and kill Monroe? That isn't really going to work now."

"Why?" She asked, more alert.

"Umm… Ah… He's got… insurance." Aaron stumbled.

"What insurance Aaron? Why do you look so sick?"

"Umm, he… he's… he's got…"

"Just pass me the binoculars before I pull them off your neck." She snapped. He handed her the binoculars and held his breath, waiting for her to explode, which promptly happened thirty seconds later.

"Why didn't you tell me he had Charlie?" She snapped. "This changes everything, I mean she and I are the only…" She trailed off.

"The only what, Rachel? What haven't you told me?" Aaron prompted.

"For the door to open it needs a DNA handprint for it to open and it's only the original team that can actually open it and from what we've heard I'm the only one not in there already, but Charlie would have close enough DNA material to me that the door would open for her. Monroe can get in now." She explained quickly.

He nodded. "So, how are we going to get her out of there?"

"With her in that tent with Monroe? There's no way we'd be able to get in there and get her and us, out alive. Not without us all getting shot and killed, or maybe just tortured."

"We're just going to watch then? Watch whatever he does to her?"

"It's the only thing we can do. Doesn't matter how much we want to do more."

The two of them went quiet, with Rachel keeping her eyes locked on Charlie for a further two hours whilst Aaron had his rest. He sat beside Rachel and they both watched. It was when Monroe slapped Charlie across the face that Rachel launched to her feet and Aaron only just managed to grab her arms and hold her back.

"Rachel! You will be killed if you go down there. Both of us will be killed if you go down there," When he saw that had no affect he changed his tactics. "Charlie will be killed if you go down there!" That worked instantly and she dropped to the ground beside him and buried her face in his shoulder.

"We cannot just leave her down there. We need to get her out of there."

"The two of us can't get her out of there. There's just no way for the two of us to get in there and get out. There are only two people who come to mind who I think could succeed." Aaron told her as he ran his hand up and down her back to soothe her.

"Did someone call for the cavalry?"

The two of them turned towards the very familiar voice. "Miles?"

Jason couldn't help but smile, they had such good luck. A scientist like Rachel Matheson had just strolled into their new rebel camp that they had holed up in for a few days. It just so happened that the scientist had rolled up, in a car, with a working amplifier and a pendant. It would easily power the chopper they had.

Miles and Nora were busy talking tactics and things like that, without him, even though they had guaranteed that he would be coming with the group on the copter. He'd been sent away to guard the chopper and amplifier and the pendant.

He sat on the edge of the back of the chopper, imagining that Charlie was there beside him. She would have loved to have action like this going on. He only just noticed when his father came and sat beside him. "Son." Was the only greeting he offered.

"Dad."

"You going to get your girl back?"

Jason looked up at him, puzzled that his dad was asking him about Charlie, whom his dad hated with a passion and also puzzled about how he was calling her his girl, they'd only been together one night before she was taken. "My girl?"

"I may be your father who you would rather be dead that here right now, but I'm not an idiot. Even when both of us were still in the Monroe militia it was pretty obvious. You bribed a stable hand for Strausser's whereabouts and I know that if you'd have got them you would have rode out and protected her then and there, but the most obvious hint was before that when you threw her off a train!"

"My girl." Jason nodded with a small smile.

Tom smiled too.

It was then that Miles and Nora came over with the pilot and his partner Laurel and Myers, the scientist. "You two ready to go?" Nora asked.

"Trust me I was ready to go two weeks ago." Jason told her as he and Tom climbed into the back of the copter with Nora and Myers following them in whilst Miles rode shotgun with the pilot. Myers and Tom sat opposite each other, both the closest to the amplifier so that Myers could keep it working properly and Tom could make sure that Myers didn't make them crash and die.

"Nora, what do we expect when we get there?" Jason asked.

She thought for a moment. "Hundred militia at least and Monroe himself, possibly Rachel and Aaron as hostages. To put it simply it isn't going to be good."

The copter ride was a new experience for all of them. They crossed at least a weeks' worth of walking distance in three hours and then they brought it down a good ten miles away from where Myers told them the tower was, so that Monroe and his men wouldn't hear them coming.

The two pilots stayed with the copter to make sure that it stayed safe whilst Miles, Nora, Tom and Jason along with Myers leading them, walked to the tower. It was at least two hours later that they could hear talking a little way ahead of them and Miles found himself smiling.

"No need to hide." He hissed to Myers, who looked like he was staring down the barrel of a gun already, Tom looked a bit confused as well, but he managed to put the pieces together eventually.

"The two of us can't get her out of there. There's just no way for the two of us to get in there and get out. There are only two people who come to mind who I think could succeed."

"Did someone call for the Calvary?"


	7. Chapter 7

Seeing the look in Miles's eyes Rachel immediately passed him the binoculars whilst Jason and Nora took turns explaining what had happened in their absence, skimming over the particular parts that they knew wouldn't be their favorites, like how Tom punched Charlie in the face at least twice.

It was Aaron that explained how much trouble they'd gotten themselves into on the way to the tower whilst Rachel went over to Miles and crouched down beside him. "You alright?" She asked.

"She looks better than the last time I saw her at least. Monroe's taken her to get to us. Rachel, he took Nora, when we were really close to getting her back and Nora saw her, she was beaten black and blue, couldn't get her hand to hold anything steadily and then when they both were asleep, Nora had her arms round Charlie and then they took her away a few hours before we got there. Nora was pretty beat up, so Jason took her out whilst I went to find Charlie in Bass's office, but both of them had already gone, there was a video chat thing on his monitor and I saw her, spoke to her. I told her that I was coming for her, that she didn't have to worry because they wouldn't hurt her anymore once I got there, but she told me not to come, that they'd kill me if I came and that I should just leave her there. Monroe hit her. Tortured her for days yet she still told me not to come."

Rachel nodded. "She knew that you couldn't do that. She was just saying it because that's who she is. You know her than I do now, but she hasn't changed all that much in all these years, still not wanting to get others into trouble but having a pretty could grasp on how to get herself into it." She laughed. "Tom Neville, fighting for the rebels, who would have thought it?"

"Trust me, nobody saw it coming, not even his kid."

"How's he holding up? Nora told me how he and Charlie are a couple."

"He's getting better, he had nightmares every night on the way to Philly. He loves her, that's obvious, so I need to try and not be too hard on him. She'd kill me if I hurt him. Speaking of…" He turned away. "Jason!" He called, Jason came over. "I thought you might want to see her. She's right down there."

Jason eagerly took the binoculars. "Thanks Miles."

"No problem, but Jason, no matter what happens down there you do not go down. If it looks bad, you tell us, don't try to be a hero, you'll just get yourself killed."

"But what's the plan? How are we going to get down there?"

"At the moment it's just watch. We wait until their attention is off of her, but with her in there with Monroe the security is all on high alert around that tent anyway."

"So, the plan is no plan?" Aaron chimed in. "At least it's par for the course."

Charlie sat on the chair, feeling restless. She hadn't moved from the chair in hours and Monroe was sat less than a meter in front of her, just talking, expecting her to respond to every question. For the first hour or so she'd tried to sound bubbly like he wanted, but then she just got sick of it and couldn't hold back the sarcastic comments and bitter remarks, every single one of them earned her a hit across the face.

"Now, Charlie, do you think Miles will come here for you?" Monroe asked.

"I don't know, I mean, I told him not to, but you've told him not to do things before and you've seen how well that's gone."

"You do have a point." He nodded. "You look like your brother, what was his name… Davey?"

"Danny." She spat.

"Ah, Danny. That's it. You could definitely see the family resemblance between you, him and Rachel when the three of you were together. You look more like Rachel than he did though."

Charlie was choking back her tears. "Danny died a hero."

"For what? Saving a handful of vermin? I wouldn't say that made him a hero, I'd say it made him the opposite in fact. He died a traitor, a little speck of dirt-"

"My brother died fighting you. Anyone who dies fighting you is a hero in my book." She snapped.

"Is that what you want Charlie? Do you want me to kill you? He asked her bitterly as he stood up from his chair and cupped her face with his hand, causing her to stiffen. "There's so much you need to see. So much you are yet to know… It would be a waste to kill you now. You know, Miles always said that a good hostage works every time."

"You said that when I stared down Strausser's gun so that he wouldn't shoot my brother and the three of us escaped anyway."

"But we ended up with power. Rachel gave us power before she left and you're going to do the same before we kill you."

"What's that supposed to mean? I can't give you power, I'm not a scientist like my parents were." She laughed.

"No, but you do have direct DNA correspondence to Rachel and Ben Matheson. Which means you can open the door for us. Mr. Flynn tried to open it, but couldn't, they'd blocked him out from the inside, but they can't block it for you, you're one of them."

Charlie felt the colour involuntarily drain from her face.

"You didn't know did you? Nobody ever told you that the combination of you and Aaron Pittman can turn the power back on. Mr. Flynn told us all we need to know."

"Aaron? What does he have to do with this?"

"Now that I'm yet to find out, but my men are working with Flynn to find that out for us. You could ask him if you wanted to find out. He might tell you."

"There is no way I'm helping you get anything you want. You've held me hostage for I don't know how long, tortured me and now you're asking me to help. You can't be serious."

"Ok then. One more question for the time being. Do you want to open the door while we wait for Rachel and Miles to show up, or in the chaos when we'll lock them out?"

"How would that even work? You need both me and Aaron to turn the power back on, don't you? So how could I get you in when he's not here?"

"I think Flynn's lying. I think you need one or the other and he's trying to keep his life by not giving us information that we think he has."

She stayed silent for a moment, "What if you're wrong?"

"Then we've got power anyway. If we got in there, there's a way to make sure that the power can never be turned back on. Which is exactly what I intend to do."

"Why? Why do you never want the power to be turned back on? Won't it mean that you don't need the amplifiers to keep your choppers and other weapons working?" she asked.

"You're the hostage here Charlie, I ask the questions, not you."

"You don't want Miles to get power do you? That's why you don't want to turn the power back on, you think that as soon as he gets power he's going to kill you and inside you don't want one of you to die because you still think that he could come to his senses and you could become brothers again."

He punched her in the face. Hard. So hard in fact that the chair fell backwards, taking her with it. She hit the ground with a thud and her vision went fuzzy, she went to sit up, but Monroe stopped her. "You need to get cleaned up before we open the tower." He said. Four soldiers then came in and grabbed her, dragging her out of the tent.


	8. Chapter 8

The moment Charlie and the chair fell backwards Jason called the others over. Miles took the binoculars and watched as they dragged her away. He kept the binoculars on her, until she disappeared completely out of view. "I'll follow them." Nora volunteered.

"I'll come with you." Jason replied and before anyone could tell them not to, both of them were gone.

"Do we have any idea what's going on down there?" Miles asked the group.

"I'd bet you anything that they're going to clean her up and then open the tower doors. They won't want to wait." Rachel said.

"What do I have to do with all this then?" Aaron asked.

"That's what I have to tell you. I ripped a page out of Doctor Warren's book." Rachel said as she pulled the crumpled bit of paper out of her back pocket and she unfolded it. "Aaron, they know that if they wanted to turn the power back on they'd need you and Charlie, but there is something that only involves Charlie that they don't need you for."

"What?" Miles asked.

"Destroying the power altogether. Making sure that it can never be turned back on."

Miles swore. "That's exactly what Bass wants to do."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Aaron asked her.

"I didn't tell anyone because Miles was meant to keep her safe! She was meant to be safe! She was meant to be kept out of all this!"

"We couldn't exactly just deflect bombs! We were attacked, Rachel now that Bass has power anyone that knows me, especially anyone I care about, is at risk!" Miles snapped

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I know that all of this is my fault? That I'd have stayed with Ben, Charlie and Danny all those years ago that maybe Ben would be alive? Or Danny wouldn't be dead? Or Charlie wouldn't be down there with Bass right now! Don't you think I already know that?"

"Well we don't have a time machine Rachel! We don't even have electricity without a necklace and a set of old parts!" Miles snapped back, Rachel looked like he was going to punch him in the face, so just to be safe Tom stepped in between them.

"You two! We don't have time for this!" Both Myers and Aaron shouted. "They're about to take Charlie into the tower and destroy the power forever, we can't just stand here arguing!"

It was five minutes later that Jason and Nora came back. "They're on their way back!" Nora told them.

"Did you come up with a plan?" Jason asked.

"As soon as we can see them we start to shoot." Miles said bluntly.

"What if we hit Charlie?"

"Look, Myers and Tom can stay here and shoot, Aaron and Rachel stay on this side of the doors and Nora and Jason, you two come with me to the far side. If they get her to the doors we go through with them."

"Sounds too simple." Nora muttered as they split up with their weapons at the ready.

As soon as they caught sight of Charlie, they all opened fire. Bullets flew everywhere, but very few actually found their targets. Monroe shoved Charlie forward and used her as a human shield until they got to the door of the tower, he then shoved her hand down onto a DNA scanner on the door, it beeped and the doors swung open.

Myers, Tom, Aaron, Rachel, Nora, Jason and Miles all ran as fast as they could as Charlie, Monroe and two dozen militia soldiers disappeared through the doors and they started to close. Surprisingly Aaron was the first to the doors and managed to easily slide through, followed closely by Miles and Rachel, with Nora, Tom and Jason only just getting through and Myers getting locked out.

They couldn't see Monroe, but all at once they heard his booming voice, so they all backed themselves against the wall and listened in silence. "Everybody split up! She is weak and injured, only been fed enough to just survive for as long as we've had her, she's unarmed and she's alone! You have to find her, she is the key to everything, and you shouldn't have even let her escape! You will get out of my sight and I don't want to see you again until you bring me Charlie Matheson!"

Rachel gasped and the others all smiled. They'd been right. Just like they'd been waiting for their opportunity, so had she. The only hard part they had now was finding her before the militia did and they had no idea which way she'd gone.

"We split up. Simple as." Miles grunted.

"Aaron, you up for it?" Nora asked.

Aaron nodded, after he cast Rachel a glance, who nodded as well.

"Jason, do you want to come with me?" Rachel asked.

"Ok then." He agreed.

"Tom, I don't trust you enough to let you out of my sight for even a moment in here." Miles said.

So the three pairs split up. Rachel and Jason headed down the left fork, the direction they didn't think Monroe's voice came from, because nobody trusted Rachel to be able to focus on finding Charlie if she were to see Monroe and if she tried to kill him then he would know that all of them were in the building, which wouldn't be good.

"This place is unlike anything I've ever seen." Jason muttered as the two of them crossed a raised walkway that ran above a load of electrical wiring, the likes of which Jason had never seen and he couldn't give a name to any of it.

"You love her, don't you?" Rachel asked him.

"Trust me it took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure it out." He responded.

"You know Charlie well, if she saw an opportunity where would she run?"

"That's the thing. I don't know, Miles and Nora, they've travelled with her more than I have, got into more sticky situations with her than I have. How big is this place? It didn't look too large from outside."

"Trust me, it's like the tardis. Bigger on the inside." Rachel chuckled.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Nothing, something from before the power went out."

Jason nodded, partially understanding. "So, is this the top floor or something?"

Exactly. The tower extends downwards, so trust me, from the bottom it looks like a tower, well, if you're stupid enough to try and leave."

Both of them chuckled, but then they heard ominous footsteps heading their way. They glanced at each other before they dropped off either side of the raised walkway, balancing on the beams that held it in place. Neither of them dared breathe as the pair of militia soldiers crossed above them.

Aaron and Nora headed down the closest path to them and neither spoke for a while. "Would you think I was crazy if I said I missed being ambushed by militia with you, Miles and Charlie?" Aaron finally asked.

"Not at all. You've had it hard with just you and Rachel then?" Nora replied.

"Trust me; what we got ourselves into has to be at least par to what we did. Just this time with a group of half the size. I don't think I ever wanted to see Miles or you or Charlie any more than I did right then."

"I can imagine that. How many people did you end up shooting?"

"Rachel broke her leg, we hid in a van and between us we managed to kill the militia guys that found us, granted I nearly got strangled to death."

"Sometimes a bigger group isn't as easy as a smaller group though. Two of you have a great cover story every time you sneak in somewhere, just a couple in love doing or looking for something, whereas for Miles, Jason and me it was a lot more complicated. At one point we had to say that Jason was my younger brother and Miles 's name was Giles and he was my husband." Nora chuckled.

"And they bought it?" Aaron laughed.

"No, we had to kill them, they were militia and they recognized us."

"Now that I can imagine."

"I missed you Aaron. I still love going anywhere we want with Miles, but it wasn't the same without you. You were good at easing the tension."

"Well, I wasn't good at anything else."

"You managed to blow us a way out of that power plant in Philly."

"That was a fluke."

"Shut up!"

"Ok, I know that I can be a bit annoying, but I think that's a bit harsh-"

"No, shut up! Militia!" Nora hissed as she shoved him behind one of the massive piles of scrap metal they'd just been walking past. Both of them were deathly silent as the militia went by them and once their footsteps no longer echoed around them Nora spoke. "That couldn't have been much closer."

Miles and Tom somehow managed to find their way down a path and then around where Monroe was without him hearing them. They walked down the hallway in silence, the only sounds that could be heard were the almost inaudible sounds their shoes made as they walked.

The walls appeared to be covered in steel slats and the first time they came to another hallway cutting off it, they hesitated and they were glad they did, as less than ten seconds later they heard the ominous clicking of heavy footsteps just round the corner, so they ran down the hall.

There was what appeared to be a supply cupboard a little way along the hall, so they both went through the door into it. There was a lot of things in there, most seemed like extra parts for machines. They hid on either side of the door and when the militia went past Miles opened the door a crack and looked through it.

Just ahead of them four members of the militia had stopped, looking at something on the wall, it was an air vent panel. He cursed under his breath. He'd taught Charlie how to break into air vents very quickly and he'd told her how they were the perfect hiding place, as he watched, one of the militia prepped his gun and shot straight into the air vent. For a moment Miles didn't know what they were doing and he only realized when the grate fell away and the militia guy disappeared into it and emerged again with Charlie, he could see a gash on her face, but other than that, Monroe had clearly cleaned her up. She was in a white top, clean dark blue jeans, her brown leather jacket was meticulously clean and her ankle high brown lace up boots looked brand new, but through all the cleanliness he could see her skin was painted with a mixture of red, black and blue.

Miles didn't think for even a second about what he did next. He launched straight through the door and sent four bullets through the air. All of them hit their mark and the four men were dead in a split second.


	9. Chapter 9

Charlie looked at her rescuer. It was Miles, but she stayed silent, wanted to scream his name and run to him, but instead she glanced over her shoulder and could see Monroe and a lot of his men all approaching from behind her. She let her instincts take over. _Hide _she mouthed to both Miles and Tom. For a moment she thought they weren't going to do anything, but she cast Tom a desperate glance and he seemed to understand the urgency because he looked over her shoulder and could just about see Monroe, so he nodded at her and grabbed Miles by the arm, dragging him back into their hiding space.

She didn't think about what she was doing, she just grabbed a gun off of one of the dead soldiers and then broke into a run. As she ran past where she knew Miles and Tom were she glanced in, only to see a brief image of Tom struggling to restrain Miles against the wall, she offered a weak smile, but she knew it came out more of a grimace, she was struggling. Already.

Moving as fast as she could manage without causing herself pain was too slow, so she went faster, but it hurt like hell. She rounded the corner and kept running. She could hear Monroe and his guys behind her, but they didn't sound too close.

She didn't stop running. She had no idea where she was going, but she was away from them at least. Miles would be cursing her name right now, she thought, smiling as she ran. By now Tom must have given in and let him out of the supply cupboard.

By the time she stopped running she was in so much pain that she couldn't see straight. She collapsed against a wall and it looked like she was in an elevator. She didn't think any of her family would have gone onto the lower floors, but if she didn't make a choice quickly Monroe would find her again and she wouldn't be able to deal with that.

She couldn't read what any of the buttons said, she was so weak and tired, so she just pressed the closest one to her fingers. She watched as the doors closed and heaved a sigh of relief, collapsing onto the floor of the elevator.

The sensation of the elevator dropping was soothing. She sat on the floor, taking in deep breaths, letting her vision slowly return to her. There was a distant pinging sound and the doors to the elevator opened. She looked at the lit up screen just above the doors which said that she was on floor eleven, but when she glanced at the buttons that she could now read, floor twelve was the illuminated one. Weird.

Brushing it off she pulled herself onto her feet and although she was shaking and unsteady, she managed to stand without needing to lean against anything, but she was swaying side to side slightly. She felt better with the gun clutched in her hand though.

Slowly she moved out of the elevator and along the hall until she came to a corner, hesitantly she went round it and found at least a dozen guns pointed at her face.

Miles had never ever been angrier in his life. All the swear words that came to mind didn't cover it. He had been so close to Charlie, so close to saving her and then she had mouthed something at him, he thought it might have been HIDE but then Tom shoved him into where they had been hiding only moments ago, because Tom had seen Monroe and a lot of militia coming their way. He'd had to watch as she ran past them, giving him a glance and a little attempt at a smile of comfort, but he knew that it was completely fake, but Tom was too Goddamn strong when he wanted to be and pinned him against the wall until all the militia had gone past, but even then neither of them left the room because they could hear footsteps.

They hid on either side of the door and when it opened both of them had their guns at the ready for no reason, unless they were planning on shooting Jason, Rachel, Aaron and Nora. "Why are you two in a supply cupboard?" Nora asked.

"Ask him!" Miles grunted, still seething with fury.

"In short, your daughter," He nodded his head in Rachel's direction, "told us to hide, Monroe was coming. I followed what she told us and she ran another way, the militia headed after her."

"And you just let her go? I knew you were bad, but not so bad you'd leave Charlie to be captured and killed!" Jason snapped.

"How are we going to find her now? She could be anywhere!" Aaron said.

"I might have an idea about that actually." Rachel muttered as she moved over to one of the shelves and started to shove it "Miles, a little help." Miles nodded and moved over and helped her shove the shelves aside.

As soon as they were away from the wall panels Rachel easily slid one aside to reveal a handprint reader, much like the one at the door. She put her hand on it and the whole screen turned green, before it turned into a system of security camera feeds.

"These aren't live, they're from maybe ten minutes ago." Rachel told the group. "Now look for Charlie, she'll be on one of these."

It was at least thirty seconds later that Nora spotted her. "There! She's there, floor eleven, she came out of the elevator!" Everyone looked at the area where Nora was pointing and there were quite a few different reactions. Rachel burst into tears, Jason hit his head on a nearby shelf, Nora and Aaron both said "Oh my God." And Miles used a whole host of colorful language.

But before they could see what happened next after she left the elevator the feed cut off. Everyone was silent for a moment, before Rachel spoke. "The elevators this way."

The group all made their way to the elevator without seeing Monroe or any of his men; Miles was more than a little disappointed. He needed to put a bullet between somebody's eyes. He was so mad he needed to do it to militia so he didn't do it to Tom.

The elevator wasn't too big, so it was a tight fit with the six of them in there, Miles was closest to the doors and on he stood shoulder to shoulder with Nora and partially with Jason, and behind him he knew that Aaron and Rachel had made sure that Tom wasn't within contact distance. They knew Miles too well.

The elevator pinged at floor eleven, which was quite peculiar, but none of them were in the mood for musing, their thoughts went straight to how if the elevator stopped here for them it would've stopped for Charlie too.

Miles and Rachel led the way down the hall, guns at the ready, with Aaron and Jason behind them and Tom and Nora bringing up the rear. The hall wasn't very long and they soon came to a corner. They walked round it and then they had guns, pointed at their faces.

Miles and the rest of the group got ready to fire, but Rachel stepped forward away from them and closer to the others. "Rachel? Rachel Matheson?" One of them said.

"Robert? I thought you were, I thought everyone in the tower that night was dead?" She asked warmly as she approached him and they embraced in a friendly hug.

"No, been down here ever since."

"Ever since? When was the last time you went outside?"

"I can't remember what sun feels like." He said, but then he brushed it off. "Come on. I've got a couple of people who'd love to see you. These your family?" He asked.

She gestured to Miles, "He's my brother in law. The rest of them are my friends. Except him at the back, you know, with the creepy smile? Yeah, feel free to shoot him."

Nora, Aaron and Jason all nodded in agreement, but Miles didn't. "If he wants to shoot him he'll have to join the queue. Right behind Me and Charlie and Jason."

Everyone laughed except Tom, who knew that it was very likely they would have a lot of fun beating him to death.

So the groups integrated, with Miles walking at the front with Rachel and Robert. "You come across my niece down here?"

"We have found someone. What's your niece look like?"

"A bit better than death warmed over, brown hair, blue eyes, annoying as hell?"

"Her name Charlie?"

"That's her. She alright?"

"Pretty tired out, could barely hold a gun straight. She's where I'm taking you, should make for a sweet reunion."

The rest of the walk was a lot faster. They went round quite a few corners and turned left at least five times before Robert punched in a code, and the door swung open. Robert led them in and they all followed him through.

Scanning the room very quickly Miles saw that it was very nicely decorated and could easily fit a hundred people in it, it already had at least forty scientists milling round. It didn't take him long to spot his niece.

She was sat on the floor, even though the sofas weren't all that far away from her and they looked a lot more comfortable and there was a petit dark skinned woman sat beside her. "Charlie." He sighed in relief as he forgot all about the other people in the room and ran over to Charlie.

He bent down in front of her and her eyes locked onto his for a moment before she launched forward and wrapped her arms round his neck, her fingers grabbing tightly onto his jacket, relieved that he was there.


	10. Chapter 10

By the time she let go both of them were crying. Jason wanted to run over and comfort her, hold her close, but Nora put a hand on his shoulder. "Give them some time." She said to him and Jason listened.

Charlie was crying and couldn't seem to force herself to stop. All those days where she'd blocked her emotions so that Monroe wouldn't know she was hurting, but now she could let it out, she was safe with Miles.

"Miles, you came." She whispered.

"Did you ever think I wouldn't?"

"I told you not to. If Monroe sees you he'll kill you."

"And if I didn't come he'd kill you."

"Why did you come for me? You had your get out of jail card, I couldn't annoy you into doing things you didn't want to."

"Because we're family, kid." He teased.

"That's my line." She laughed.

"Do you want to stand up and see your mother, Aaron, Nora and your boyfriend?"

"I want to, but I don't think I can. The running for my life sort of hurt a little. I can't stand up." She smiled, but it came out more of a grimace.

"You do realize that when we have time you're going to have to tell us everything he did to you? We need to see Charlie, so that we can know how to help."

"I know, Miles, I know."

Miles turned round and waved Nora over, Nora came over and hugged Charlie, before she put one of Charlie's arms over her shoulder and helped her stand up, with Miles on the other side. When she was on her feet she moved her arm off of Nora's shoulder, letting Miles alone help her. "Thanks Nora, but I don't want two people helping me. I need to be able to walk and not need a lot of help if we're going to get out of here."

"Charlie, its fine. You don't need to justify it." Nora smiled.

"If you'd come over here, it'd be a lot easier." Miles said to Aaron, Rachel and Jason. They all came over. Aaron got the first hug.

"I didn't think I'd see you again." Charlie whispered to him.

"Me either, Charlie. Me either."

When Aaron moved back Rachel took his place.

"Mom." Charlie whispered her eyes full of tears again.

"Charlie," Her mother whispered back, embracing her in her arms. "You're lucky Aaron spotted you in Monroe's tent, I was going to blow it up."

"That wouldn't have been too good for me." Charlie grinned, "I didn't think, I didn't think I'd see you again. You told me you weren't coming back."

"I also told you I was coming back in a few months when I left the first time, it seems I've got the two phrases mixed up."

Rachel moved away and Jason took her place. "I'm sorry Charlie. I was right there, I let them take-"She cut off his rambling by brushing his lips with hers, only lightly, Miles was still liable to murder him.

"Grace?" Rachel asked suddenly. The petit woman smiled warmly.

"Your daughter Rachel?" Rachel nodded.

"Wait, Grace? As in Grace Beaumont?" Aaron interrupted.

Grace nodded.

"I've been looking for you for a very long time."

Everyone went quiet for a moment. Nora and Charlie moved to the side to have a talk, Rachel, Aaron and Grace were having a nice catch up and then there was Tom, Jason and Miles that just stood round looking a little bit awkward.

Nobody was looking towards where Charlie and Nora were, but only for a moment. Jason and Miles were busy half listening to Tom talk about his favorite topic, himself. "Miles." Miles knew that voice well, it was the one Charlie used when she was worried or trying to cover up how she was feeling. He turned on his heels and looked towards where Charlie and Nora had been standing.

He cursed. Nora was unconscious on the floor, how nobody had heard that was beyond him and Charlie was pinned against a wall with a gun to her temple, her back to all of them. "What are you doing?" Rachel cried.

"Stop this, that's her daughter. Remember? Rachel brought her by the office once a few weeks before her son was born. You met her, Robert, you met her when she was three." Grace said as she took a few hesitant steps forward.

"We kill her, this tower is safe. We kill her and the power can't be erased and it can't be brought back on. If Monroe tries to turn the power back  
on, the world could die, it isn't worth it!"

Miles started to move towards his niece, but then he noticed that all the scientists that had been milling about moments ago, had all formed what appeared to be a ring around Miles, Aaron, Tom, Jason, Rachel, Grace and Nora, Charlie and Robert and all of them had guns. Miles swore again.

Grace took control of the situation first. "What if we need to turn the power back on? What if the world will die without it? We can't just kill an innocent girl because of worries."

"We can kill this girl because without her there isn't a fifty percent chance of pressing the enter key and setting the world on fire!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Somebody said. Miles cursed and looked over the other way. Monroe.

The reaction of everyone in the group was almost instant. Everyone stood in three different groups, there were the crazy scientists holding Charlie and Nora hostage, Monroe and his militia and Miles, Rachel, Aaron, Jason, Tom and Grace.

Nora's eyes fluttered open and she got a face full of floor. She lolled her head to the side a little and looked round. She was on the floor with all the scientists behind her, Monroe and his men at the main door, in front and to her left and Miles and the gang directly in front of her, near the kitchen and what could have been a back door.

She met Miles's eyes and he closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before opening them again. Nora understood what he meant; he meant that she needed to make them think she was still unconscious.

"Give us the girl." Monroe ordered.

"We'll give you this one." One of the scientists barked as they grabbed Nora from the floor and before she knew what was happening they through her light frame across the room. She hit the floor hard, but then hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her onto her feet.

Monroe smiled at her and twisted her round in his arms so that she was facing both the other groups of people. So the situation was simple. The scientists could shoot Charlie, Monroe and Miles and the gang, Monroe could shoot her and Miles and the gang, but not the scientists because they had who he wanted and Miles and the gang couldn't shoot anyone. Completely par for the course.

"So, this is how I see it. There is no way we can accomplish this." Grace said as she stood just a little way in front of both Miles and Rachel. "Robert, if you shoot Charlie, Monroe and all of us over here will open fire on you. Monroe, if you shoot Nora, us over here will open fire on you and maybe Robert and the scientists would join in."

"Well, Miss Beaumont, is it? The way I see it we could just kill both of them now and then all our problems would be solved anyway." Monroe said to her. "And then we could turn on all of you and make sure that we kill Aaron Pittman."

Grace swallowed. "None of us want to shoot each other, we can come to a civilized agreement about this and nobody has to die."

"But we want everyone to die anyway." Monroe said.

Nora found that she was the only one looking at Charlie now. She met her eyes and could tell that Charlie had a plan. It was then that Nora noticed that Robert had loosened his grip on Charlie almost completely. Monroe also wasn't being very vigilant holding Nora. Both the girls nodded and both of them moved at the same time. All it took for Nora was for her to give Monroe an elbow to the gut and he reflexively let go of her, he wasn't used to people fighting him. Robert took a little more effort. Charlie elbowed him in the gut, kicked him in the shins and then managed to twist round and punch him in the face, sending him falling backwards.

In the chaos they ran back to Miles and the others and back out into the tower. "Meet at the copter. Everyone split up." Tom ordered. They were a bit shocked that he was ordering them about by they accepted it as being the right thing to do, so they did. Miles, Charlie and Rachel went one way, Tom and Jason went another and Aaron and Nora and Grace another.

Miles held Charlie's hand and refused to let go. He could tell when she was in pain, she slowed down considerably. "Charlie, you need to keep going. You can do it kid."

"I'm trying. I'm really trying Miles." She panted.

"I know you are, but they're going to catch us if we don't keep going." Her eyes widened with panic and she wasn't looking at Miles anymore. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Monroe was right there. He moved himself so that he was standing in front of Charlie and he raised his gun. So did Charlie and Rachel.

"Now, friend, you can't win a shootout. You're out gunned and out manned. So, are you going to come with us, or do you want us to kill all three of you now?"


	11. Chapter 11

"You heard me, friend. Come with us." Monroe repeated. "Charlie, you can walk up front with me." He said, holding his hand out to her. She felt Rachel and Miles stiffen on her either side. "Charlie, come along now, I wouldn't want to have to put a bullet in your mothers' brain."

Charlie took a deep breath and slipped her hand out of Miles's. She heard him curse, but she just had to ignore it. It took every ounce of love she had for both her mother and for Miles for her to be able to walk forward and place her hand on his. "Good girl. Rachel, you've got a good kid."

With every step they took Charlie was searching her brain madly to come up with a plan, but she was completely coming up short, she also found that she was getting closer and closer to passing out, at least it would be a welcome relief from all the pain.

When she did pass out, even though Monroe was by her side, Miles was the one who reacted quickest and he managed to run forward and catch her in his arms before she hit the ground. He stopped moving for a moment and adjusted his grip so that her head was against his chest and he had one arm round her shoulder and the other beneath her knees, he didn't think she was going to wake up any time soon.

It was less than ten seconds later that a spray of gunfire opened out on them, Miles knew that it was Nora, Jason, Tom and probably Grace as well. Nearly every single one of Monroe's men were hit. Miles and Rachel both ran to take cover behind some pillars and when they got there they found Nora and the others ready and waiting.

Suddenly they all heard Monroe speak again. "Miles, are you ready to settle this? Once and for all?" Miles looked at everyone and handed the semi-conscious Charlie over to Jason.

"Get her out of here. Everyone get out of here. If I don't come out in an hour, I'm dead, move on, anywhere safe at all. You got it?" He ordered.

Everyone reluctantly nodded, except Nora and Charlie. Miles went to Nora first. "Nora, I need you out of here. We need to resolve this and I won't let him have anything over me, he cannot take you away from me, you need to get out of here, please. I'll be out before you know it." He told her as he kissed her. It was passionate and strong, but Nora had always known what a goodbye kiss from Miles felt like.

She couldn't say anything back to him.

He then went over to Charlie, who was still in Jason's arms. "Charlie, you are in no shape to be in here, no shape to help. If you stayed he would have no problem with killing you, you can barely stand up kid." He said to her.

"No, I can't lose you. Not another person. I cannot lose my mother for so many years and then lose my dad and then lose my brother and then lose you. I just can't. Miles you can't stay in here. Not without help." She cried.

"I'll be fine kid. Now go." He ordered. This time, everyone looked at him sympathetically. Rachel hugged him, Tom shook his hand and then they all left and he prepared his gun and turned towards Sebastian Monroe.

"Ah, so you will settle this for once now? You won't turn and run again?"

"Bass, we used to be brothers,"

"This won't work Miles, the time for that tactic crashed with the first attempt of yours."

"Let me finish. We used to be brothers and I thought I needed you to be who I was, I thought I needed you to survive because you were my only family, I thought I could trust you, but there's a first time for everything and that's the first time my feelings have ever been wrong."

Both men stayed frozen, guns trained on each other.

"So, Miles are you ready to die?"

"No Bass, are you?"

"I've always been better at not getting hit by bullets than you."

"But I have a family. You killed the mother of your child; you don't even know your son's name. I have a family; I have somewhere to go once I leave here. You on the other hand can go back to a republic that's going to revolt against you. So who do you think is better off?" Miles taunted.

"There will be nothing left for you Miles. I've-"

Miles couldn't take it any longer. He pulled the trigger before Bass could kill him. As soon as Bass dropped Miles moved to his side. "Miles, you'll regret this. I've already given the orders," he broke off into a coughing fit, coughing up a lot of blood "The orders to kill your family,"

"Who is my family Bass? Who have you told them to kill?"

"Aaron Pittman, Tom Neville, Jason Neville, Nora, Rachel, you and… your precious… Charlie." It was then that Bass groaned in pain. "Miles? Miles, are you there? Miles it hurts." He was crying.

"I'm here Bass." Miles whispered as he took hold of his hand. "I know it hurts buddy. I know. Just let go, go to sleep, I'll be right here when you wake up."

"You promise?"

"I promise, I promise you Bass. Haven't we been brothers for life?"

"Thank you Miles." Bass whispered as his eyes glazed over and his head lolled to the side, lifelessly. Miles couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry that he'd just comforted his ex-best friend as he died.

So he did neither. He pulled his gun from where he'd left it on the ground and ran towards the exit of the tower. He ran until he left the tower and felt the wind on his skin again. He ran until he could see the copter and it wasn't the sight he wanted.

The pilot was dead, Tom had a bullet hole in his leg and was sitting right beside the dead pilot, Nora had a bullet graze on her side and Jason had one on his head and there was no sign of anyone else. "What the hell happened?" Miles roared as he ran over to Nora and Jason.

He helped both of them sit up and then he ran to the copter and grabbed the medical supply from the back of it. He handed Jason a handful of bandages for him to put pressure on his head wound and he gave him a roll to use on Tom as well whilst Nora lifted her shirt up a little and Miles helped her wrap the bandages from her waist up to her chest, making sure that it was tight enough to keep pressure on it.

"We were all fine. Charlie woke up, properly. Aaron was looking at her wounds, looking like he was going to be sick and Jason and I noticed. The two of us found it pretty funny, we were only a little way away from them, heading over to Rachel, she asked us to help her with something and then she went completely berserk. She was talking normally and picked up a gun and aimed it at us. She started panicking; it wasn't her picking up the gun. Jason tried to go back to Charlie and Aaron, but she pulled the trigger on him, she was screaming it couldn't have been her actually shooting, she's no dead shot." Nora paused, taking in a few deep breaths.

"I went closer to her, nearly walked right into the gun, she pulled the trigger and I collapsed. She turned on Tom and fired, but only hit his leg and then she held the gun on Aaron, said that if Charlie didn't go with them then she wouldn't hesitate to finish the job on me and Jason. It was terrifying, Miles, it wasn't her voice. The three of them went back to the tower." She finally stopped talking.

"Damn it!" Miles cursed.

"What?" Nora asked him as he helped her up.

"Bass, I killed him. Before he went delirious he said he'd already arranged orders to kill all of us. I didn't understand what he meant. He held Rachel hostage for years; obviously he'll have known something like this was coming when I deserted."

"I don't understand Miles. What are you saying?"

"I'm saying he implanted a chip in her head so that she'll kill all of us and herself, even if she doesn't want to!"

"Are you joking?"

"Do I look like I'm joking? Like hell am I joking!"

**Reviews are greatly appreciated! This might be the penultimate chapter, but if I get a lot of positive reviews I might carry it on! J**


	12. Chapter 12

"Mom! Mom, let us go." Charlie pleaded.

"I can't Charlie, I actually can't." Rachel said back as she sat Aaron and Charlie opposite each other on the floor of the first floor of the tower, with Monroe's corpse in between them.

"Why did you bring us back here Rachel?" Aaron asked, his voice shaking. "What has Monroe done to you?"

"He put something in my head, when Miles killed him it activated and that means I need to kill everyone else, but mainly the two of you and myself, so that the power can never come back on."

"Didn't he tell you to kill Nora or Jason or Tom or Miles?" Charlie asked.

"That's lesser programing that I can override." She said very robotically, it was terrifying.

"Rachel? Come on. You love Charlie. She is your child, your baby. You can't just kill her." Aaron said, Rachel whipped around to face Aaron and he gasped. He could see the chip Monroe had put in her, it was stuck in her left eye, emitting blue pulses through her.

"Scared, Aaron?" She taunted as she moved closer to him and hit him in the face with the gun. He cried out and Charlie was almost certain that she heard the crack of his nose bone.

"Stay away from him!" Charlie screamed.

"Oh, would you rather I kill you first?"

Charlie shoved herself onto her feet, using the wall as support and managed to step over the space between her and her mother in six steps and she felt the gun against her forehead. "Strausser never pulled the trigger, but I will." Rachel snapped.

Charlie took in a deep breath and then steadied herself. "Shoot me. Kill me. Just leave the others alone. You kill me and all of this goes away, you kill me and you can't turn the power on anyway. Just leave Aaron alone."

"Well, I'd recommend you stepped away from both of them before you do something you'll regret." Charlie didn't dare turn around, but she knew that voice anywhere. Miles was there.

Charlie could see Nora helping Aaron to his feet and helping him away before Rachel had chance to stop them. "Rachel, drop the gun." Miles said. Charlie moved her gaze so that she could see everyone on her left side.

Miles and Jason were approaching her, Miles was closer though. "Rachel, look at Charlie. Look at how scared she is of you. She is your only child now that you've lost Danny. Your child is terrified of you. You don't want to shoot her."

Charlie braved a glance into her mother's face, at just the wrong moment. Rachel looked down into Charlie's eyes and smiled. "Monroe can't win. I won't let him have the last laugh, that honor is all mine."

Charlie opened her mouth to speak to her but then Rachel twisted the gun off of her daughter and turned it so that it was pointed at her temple and then she pulled the trigger. Rachel dropped to the ground beside Monroe. Charlie screamed.

Jason ran to Charlie and Miles let him. He embraced her in his arms and she was shaking. "Charlie, Charlie, I've got you. I'm here and I'm not letting you out of my sight again." He whispered.

"Lovebirds, you up for turning the power back on?" Miles asked.

"That's what mom would have wanted."

They made it to floor twelve with no trouble. It was relatively amusing and everyone was sure that if it was under any different circumstances they would have laughed. Aaron and Charlie led most of the way, with Jason and Miles just behind and Nora at the back. Apparently Grace had stayed with Tom at the copter. Aaron and Charlie managed to unlock the computer rooms' electronic keypad. Both of them went in first and then Nora and Miles, with Jason entering just behind them.

The room was filled with in excess of twenty computer monitors and it only had two keypads. Charlie and Aaron sat down by each, with Nora standing in between them with 's journal. Slowly Nora told them commands to complete on the keypad, some were weird, like state your birthday and others were full of computer jargon that Aaron had to translate for both of them.

"Press the enter key and hope for the best." Nora said.

Charlie and Aaron glanced over at each other and smiled. This was it. Nothing else was going to matter more than this one little moment, this one little thing. It was unspoken between the group of them that they were all thinking of Rachel, only minutes ago she had killed herself to do this, so either she was going to be the last person to die for this, or she was going to be the first that died in the end of the world.

They all only hoped that it was the former.

"Please God let this work." Miles muttered.

Everyone froze in anticipation as both Charlie and Aaron pressed the enter key.

In Atlanta President Foster was standing in her office, looking out of the windows at her streets. Hopefully the Matheson's would succeed or she would have to surrender before her streets were carpet bombed and Monroe laid claim to the rubble.

Her private thinking time was interrupted when she heard the creak of something above her head. She looked up at the ceiling fan that hadn't worked since the power went out. Very slowly it started to turn, creaking from disuse. She watched in awe as it sped up before it stopped creaking and then the street lights outside flickered on.

"Smith!" She yelled as she stormed out of her office, smiling with glee. "I hope you're ready, the Matheson's have done it! The power is back! Get the nuke's ready and aim them all at Philly!"

**Thanks so much for all my loyal fans who have read this. It's quite sad to be finishing my first fan fic. I hope everyone found it a good read. I'm sure I'll write other revolution fics in the future. I already have two other stories started, one for criminal minds and one for NCIS, so I hope you'll read and enjoy them as well ;)**

**Thank you and **


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